Unisex Toilet Humor

Don't ever accuse the Finnish people of NOT having a great sense of humor. After visiting 3 out of 120 fantastic beer pubs in the city of Turku, my motley crew of writers and I learned about this rare gender-neutral find - the "Toilet Bar'! Yes, the Toilet bar, as in lavatory, water closet (WC), or loo. Both women and men alike can 'squat' for the night and 'waste' away an evening staring at the evolution of potty seats and flapper valves. The place is ironically a 'flushing success' with hundreds of thirsty Finns raising their lids for the national drink of Koskenkorva or Finnish Vodka. It's really just an average bar with a great name and a comical theme. It works and by midnight after too many drinks called Cloudyberry I found myself 'sinking' in my seat. Some friendly locals called a cab for me while the rest went disco schlagging until 2pm.

Turku is the country's oldest city, over 600 years however much of what's here today was built after the last fire in 1827. Frequent fires, uprisings and especially World War II destroyed all of the original wooden buildings in the town except for a famous handicraft museum called Luostarinmaki. Here we saw a wigmaker's room, tobacco workshop, a stable-boy's room and authentic grass-thatched roofs where sheep used to graze. Yes, sheep on top of a small roof! This place is definitely worth a longer visit when the rain stops pouring.

More on Christmas in Finland after my 2-hour deluxe train trip aboard the Pedolino on route for Helsinki in a few minutes...